The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

During my recent visit to Crossword, I saw this Blue shiny paperback which drew me to it like someone had cast a spell on me. I read the first line and I was spellbound. Involuntarily I put it into my basket and let me say this was one of the wisest decisions I took that weekend. This book is hilarious. It’s been a long time since I have laughed out loud reading a book. Its written in such a way where The God, Apollo himself narrates the events to us in a very House-of-Cards-esque way.

Synopsis: Apollo gets banished to Earth in form of a 16 year old human by his father Zeus as a punishment. To become a god again he needs to serve a demigod and undergo few trials after which his father will restore him back to his past glory. On his first day as human he meets a 12 year old demigod Meg, who tricks hims into her servitude. Together they battle various adversaries like Roman emperors, disease blobs to find the hidden Oracle as well as save it and Camp half blood.

What i felt: Apollo is charming, funny, sarcastic, and courageous as well as selfish, narcissistic and self-obsessed. He treat humans, demigods and other beings just as minions who are his adherent admirers. He kind of reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter. Only difference being you just can’t stop yourself falling in love with his character. As for Meg, she is sickle swinging bad ass. We also have recurring characters like Percy Jackson, Chiron. It is a fantasy action thriller about warring old Greek and Roman Gods and their kids. It also has Maze Runnerish element with a race and self aware Labyrinth. One of the things I liked in the book was how they have shown Apollo to be bisexual and proud of it. They also have strong courageous gay characters, breaking the stereotypes.The book is very engaging. Once you pick it up you just can’t put it down. I, myself finished it in less than a day. Also it’s not necessary to read the previous 10 books to understand this. It will make sense even if you have watched the movie Percy Jackson or there is a guide to Apollo-speak at the end of the book.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 👻 👻 👻 👻 👀

My favorite quotes

‘Horrors!’ I Cried. ‘Is that-Is that acne?’
Immortal gods do not get acne. It is one of our inalienable rights.

One of the natural consequences of being awesome is that I attracted envy from all quarters.

‘You do understand that I must find a way to return to Olympus,’ I said. ‘This will probable involve many harrowing trials with a high chance of death. Can you turn down such glory.?’
‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can. Sorry.’ Percy said.

It warmed my heart that my children had the right priorities: their skills, their images, their views on YouTube.

I am already a fan girl of this series. Can’t wait to read the next book. And if they ever make a movie on this I think I have found the perfect cast. What do you guys think?